Buffalo Gives Fillmore Respect

--Millions of Americans may not be aware of it, but today is President Millard Fillmore’s 188th birthday. And the State University of New York at Buffalo is planning to celebrate in a big way, complete with the placing of a wreath from President Reagan at Fillmore’s tomb in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Fillmore, the nation’s 13th President, was also the university’s first chancellor. Fillmore became President in 1850 when Zachary Taylor died in office. He served until 1853 and is looked on by historians as having accomplished little during his tenure. Fillmore moved to Buffalo in 1830 and called the city his home until his death in 1874. He helped found the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System and the Buffalo Museum of Science. “We honor him more for what he did for Buffalo than for what he did as President,” said Sue Wuetcher, university spokeswoman. The school will not be totally alone in its celebration. In Baltimore, Md., the Society to Promote Respect and Recognition for Millard Fillmore will hold a party Sunday for “the Rodney Dangerfield of U.S. presidents,” Chairman Rae Rossen said.

--Two couples in Arkansas want to keep politics in the family. Verdell Campbell, 46, filed to run against her husband, Newton County Judge Alton Campbell, in the Republican primary. Judge Campbell, 47, is running for a sixth term. Mrs. Campbell has worked for her husband as a clerk. “She will make a good candidate,” the judge said. Not to be outdone, John McCaleb of Little Rock filed as a Republican for District 8 justice of the peace. His wife, Annette, has filed as a Democratic candidate. If Annette McCaleb wins the Democratic nomination, her husband said, he will drop out of the race.

--Officials in Rockville, Md., are seeing red over Neiman-Marcus’ designer trash bags. The red bags are causing trouble in the Washington suburb, where red bags traditionally are used for infectious hospital wastes. “It was a totally innocent kind of mistake,” Neiman-Marcus spokeswoman Jan Roberts said. Roberts said Neiman-Marcus was withdrawing the few remaining unsold bags from its Washington-area store and would offer refunds to residents who wished to return them. Roberts said store executives planned to call the mayor of Rockville and “make a good-will gesture to the Maryland hospital district to distribute the leftover red bags to all their hospitals for hazardous waste.” The problem was seasonal. “We chose red for Christmas. We’re bringing out new colors for spring--coral, light green and beige,” Roberts said.